How to Overcome the Fear of Giving Birth to a Sick Child

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The question is what kind of family it is. If the family is Christian, it is easier, because Orthodox people, of course, rely on God – in fact, this is an issue of trusting God. We know that many people born with certain disabilities, limitations, who would be called invalids today, have left an amazing trace in human history. Suffice it to recall St. Matrona of Moscow or Ludwig van Beethoven — the greatest people who were disabled (Beethoven was deaf, St. Matrona was blind). If prenatal screening were done at the time, they would tell their parents, "You will have a sick child, an invalid.”

Therefore, parents who have not only faith in God, but also trust Him, of course, must accept all the children that God sends them, because these children are sent by God, not just for the parents, but for all of us.

Very often, it turns out that a child, even with certain defects, eventually provides the foundation and maybe the path for the salvation to so many people. He can become a great doctor and a great saint.

Very often, such fears are not justified at all, since today it is still very problematic to determine that a child is ill while he is still in the womb. There is no one-hundred-percent guarantee that prenatal diagnoses will be confirmed.

There is the website Sohranimenya.ru — a charitable program that helps prevent abortions. I recall we were helping a young family — a woman with a child. That woman had type-1 diabetes (which is a rather severe form) and all the doctors tried to talk her into having an abortion. She came to us, and as a result, she saved her baby. He is now growing healthy and we baptized him. He is developing perfectly. There are no abnormalities, no pathology, it is a perfectly healthy child, and the mother is happy that she kept him. This is one example of how a person's faith works miracles. It is better not to rely on fears, which — I can say it as a priest — the enemy of human salvation and the enemy of human life in general tries to inflict on us.

Very often, a sick child is sent for the sake of other children. Sometimes kids do not come to faith, they don’t behave, but when a disabled child comes into the family, they begin to turn to God, and they begin to realize something. If at school they have no lessons in mercy, then in the family they get such a lesson. Following the example of his brother, a child begins to learn how to love people. God's plans work in mysterious ways, so I appeal to everyone: "Give birth! Do not be afraid, for God is always with us!"

— Priest Feodor Lukyanov

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